Doctors at Apollo Hospitals, Navi Mumbai, have successfully operated on a seven-year-old girl from Valsad in Gujarat to treat her for a fibrous tumour in neck muscle.
When Somya Tiwari was six-month-old, her parents noticed a lump on the right side of neck which gradually increased and caused a tilt in the neck.
After two surgeries failed to address her condition, the family approached Apollo Hospitals where the girl underwent a multi-stage surgery carried out by a team of doctors from the departments of spine surgery, paediatric, paediatric orthopaedic, ENT and plastic surgery.
“This appears to be a condition called benign fibrobastic proliferation of sternocleidomastoid muscle, also known as fibromatosis colli. This is a congenital fibrotic process that is rarely seen and affects infants with an incidence of 0.4% of live births. It is usually on one side, affects the right side in 3/4th of cases, and usually, male infants are affected slightly more often than the females,” Dr. Agnivesh Tikoo, spine surgeon, said.
The neck tilt and rotation were so bad that the first and second cervical spine bones (vertebrae) had slipped from their original positions, Dr. Tikoo said.
The MRI and CT scan imaging showed a bony bar extending from the collarbone to the mastoid bone located behind the ear.
The surgery, led by Dr. Tikoo and Dr. Swapnil Keny, paediatric orthopaedic surgeon, was carried out in three stages.
In the first stage, the bony bar was excised and removed along with tight muscle fibres. A paediatric halo, which holds the head via metal pins, was applied to child’s skull and gradual traction with weights was applied over the next three weeks.
The second surgery was carried out three weeks later. It involved fixing the slipped cervical vertebrae which was performed under neuromonitoring (a device/system which monitors the spinal cord and nerves during the surgery). The child remained in the halo vest for three months before it was replaced with a specially made collar.
The child underwent a third minor procedure a few days ago to make her neck more flexible to aid in physiotherapy. The child can now see straight with both the eyes and can hold her neck straight.
Nilesh Tiwari, father of the girl, who works as a technician, said, “It was a difficult time for the family to see the child suffering. One of my colleagues recommended to meet specialists at Apollo Hospitals. We are happy to see our daughter hold her head straight and be normal like any other child.”
Only child of her parents, Somya, a Class III student, is attending online classes.
